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Is Chinese Drywall Making Habitat for Humanity’s Houses Uninhabitable?
ProPublica ^ | 27 June 2010 | Joaquin Sapien and Aaron Kessle

Posted on 06/27/2010 1:58:52 PM PDT by Palter

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1 posted on 06/27/2010 1:58:57 PM PDT by Palter
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To: Palter

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/algoof.wav
http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/jimmah.wav


2 posted on 06/27/2010 2:01:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: Palter

Some folks will complain no matter how much you do for them...


3 posted on 06/27/2010 2:01:15 PM PDT by TheBattman (They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature...)
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To: BenLurkin
Habitat said it bought what it thought was American-made drywall from Interior Exterior Building Supply

Sounds like a Jimmy Carter excuse... Hello - the drywall in question is clearly stamped with "Made in China"... Habitat used it anyway. Then they are lying about it.

4 posted on 06/27/2010 2:03:19 PM PDT by TheBattman (They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature...)
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To: Palter
Habitat said it bought what it thought was American-made drywall from Interior Exterior Building Supply, known as INEX. INEX became widely known last year as one of the main players in Louisiana who supplied problematic Chinese-made board, with the majority coming from Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd.

Knauf is a Bavaria-based German company that has settled with some homeowners. Chinese plant or not, I'm surprised they let things slide to this extent.

5 posted on 06/27/2010 2:10:04 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always)
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To: TheBattman

It was damned if you do, damned if you don’t . . . those two hurricanes effed us up in more ways than people imagine.


6 posted on 06/27/2010 2:15:41 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: TheBattman

This flummoxes me because (IIUC) the Chinese drywall problem was already notorious while these structures were still being built, and Habitat sites are famous for future homeowner and charity group volunteer DIY participation. Nobody noticed while the drywall was being put up? Nobody blew whistles?


7 posted on 06/27/2010 2:16:18 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: Palter

Habitat continued to use Chinese drywall after problems were uncovered and denied that the product was defective. After all, their intentions were good and they believed that the stuff was safe. You can’t ask any more of liberals.


8 posted on 06/27/2010 2:19:42 PM PDT by centurion316
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To: TheBattman

This stuff is nasty. It eats the electrical wires and pipes as well as has a bunch of formaldahyde in it. They settled for $4 Billion throughout the South. Your gummit at work.

Pray for America


9 posted on 06/27/2010 2:23:47 PM PDT by bray (Did Rush say Complete Failure?)
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To: Palter
DUDE!

This free house you gave me needs work!

WTH!

Build me a new one, and do it right this time! I've got drugs to do, see you in 6 months after you get the new one built!

10 posted on 06/27/2010 2:36:16 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama = Epic Fail)
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To: bray

What did the Chinese find to make dry wall out that is cheaper than gypsum and emits hydrogen sulfide? I know that they used waste melmine(sp?) to jack up the nitrate test score for the gluten they put in pet food, but it is hard to imagine what they could do to the gypsum.


11 posted on 06/27/2010 2:53:40 PM PDT by Western Phil
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To: Western Phil

Fly ash


12 posted on 06/27/2010 3:01:52 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( - Eccl. 10:18 -)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

“the problem gained wide public attention in early 2009. Most, if not all, other U.S. homebuilders stopped using Chinese-manufactured wallboard at about that time.”

Because most of them were out of business.


13 posted on 06/27/2010 3:03:03 PM PDT by Ed Condon (Wanted, newer tag line in good condition.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Habitat doesn’t work that way.


14 posted on 06/27/2010 3:12:03 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: smokingfrog

RECYCLING!


15 posted on 06/27/2010 3:12:55 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: centurion316

was the drywall donated by china? if not, I’d bet some politician steered the contract that way, and a “gift trip” or something along those lines was involved.

as they say “follow the money”

the whole Katrina rebuilding has been a debacle, and many have gotten wealthy off of it, while the honest folks continue to suffer.

and the more I read about the rebuilding, the more and more I see dems behind the curtain steering the contracts to friends and relatives. It’s like a micro-Afghanistan with all the corruption.

We tried to donate some time and equipment with our church group afterwards (I’m an HVAC contractor), and the paperwork was daunting, the cash outlay to get permits and grease the right palm was frustrating, and in the end, we just decided it would be too costly (in time and money) for us to help out. We didn’t have the right connections to do charity work. Ironic aint it? The local union didn’t want us there because we were non-union, and the local political red-tape was crazy.

We had some older units we wanted to donate (brand new, just a few years old) and they wouldn’t take them because they didn’t meet the required state energy efficiency standard for new construction (the units were worth a few grand each), the state insisted that we donate the higher 18 SEER units, which would have cost about 8 grand a unit as well. Sorry, were a small family business, we just don’t have money like that.

Also, they wanted a warranty on the duct work (which we were donating) promising that we would be responsible for mold and environmental issues for 24 months. There was no way we were donating time, money, and all the rest of the stuff, only to have to go back on our own expense, because the house still had mold problems. That wasn’t our area, we had no way to verify the homes were mold free, and we weren’t going to be held liable.

And at the same time, there were some horrible contractors doing drywall, carpentry, electrical through the unions, who were shoddy, unlicensed, uninsured, getting premium no-bid contracts with federal funds, but they had LA connections.


16 posted on 06/27/2010 3:15:08 PM PDT by esoxmagnum
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To: Western Phil
What did the Chinese find to make dry wall out that is cheaper than gypsum and emits hydrogen sulfide? I know that they used waste melmine(sp?) to jack up the nitrate test score for the gluten they put in pet food, but it is hard to imagine what they could do to the gypsum.

Gypsum is a hydrated calcium sulfate. As with anything dug out of the ground, it is often associated with other minerals:

"Gypsum is deposited in lake and sea water, as well as in hot springs, from volcanic vapors, and sulfate solutions in veins. Hydrothermal anhydrite in veins is commonly hydrated to gypsum by groundwater in near surface exposures. It is often associated with the minerals halite and sulfur.

They mined or quarried it in the wrong place.

17 posted on 06/27/2010 3:17:59 PM PDT by Gorzaloon (CNN:AP:etc:Today, President Obama's stool was firm and well-formed. One end was slightly pointed. ")
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for later


18 posted on 06/27/2010 3:33:29 PM PDT by newnhdad (The longest of journeys begins with one step.)
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To: All

Why don’t these lazy people pick-up a friggin hammer and take their musician money and build their own houses. The time for partying in the streets everyday is over. The time for making excuses is over. My church has sent a mission to different parts of Louisiana every year since the levies broke and they return with the same observation. Those people are helpless and live in squalor but have great parties.

That milti-billion Katrina slushfund is doing no good and now they have another 20bil from BP to leach off of until the next handout.

Time for the residents of the area that sits under sealevel to either crap or get off the pot. The American people can no longer subsidize their way of life. Hell, I wish they would build us a house so I can take-up suntanning, pot smoking and party throwing as a profession too.


19 posted on 06/27/2010 3:44:50 PM PDT by newnhdad (The longest of journeys begins with one step.)
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To: newnhdad

What you said.


20 posted on 06/27/2010 4:26:05 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (" 'Bush did it' is not a foreign policy." -- Victor Davis Hanson)
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